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Eighth Grader Aces Sat With Perfect Score Of 1,600

Nathan Herold first took the Scholastic Assessment Test when he was in the 7th grade, and scored a highly respectable 1,390. This year, as an 8th grader, he aced it with a perfect 1,600.

"I thought I might be able to get a better score," the 14-year-old said Tuesday.

Nathan, who attends Sycamore Junior High School in a Cincinnati suburb, took the SAT again in January, one of about 112,000 7th and 8th graders who take the multiple-choice test intended for college-bound high school students.

Of the more than 2 million students of all ages who took it during the 1995-96 school year, only 545 earned a perfect 1,600, said Tom Ewing, spokesman for Educational Testing Service, of Princeton, N.J., which administers the SAT for the College Board.

"It's unusual for a high school junior to do it. So for a 7th or 8th grader, it's truly exceptional," Ewing said.